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Portrait of Elena's parents
In the early 1910s, Elena’s parents were both born in different villages in rural China. At age 19, Elena’s father immigrated by himself with a false name to Lima, Peru. He knew “uncles” from his village that lived here and was able to learn Spanish as well as ballroom dancing. Towards the late 1920s, the “uncles” hinted that it was time for him to get married. Because he was “match-made” in China, he had to go back to marry this woman he had never seen before. The two got married in 1937 and had a child together that sadly passed away as an infant. During this time, the Japanese were invading China during the Second Sino - Japanese war. As a result, Elena’s father had to go back to Peru in 1939 in search of work to make a steady income. His wife had to stay back in China because they both could not leave the country, but they promised to reunite when things settled down.
Twenty years later, the two could finally be together again. In 1959, Elena’s mom had to pay smugglers to get to Hong Kong in order to fly to Peru. It was “a long twenty years for her” as she was living with her mother-in-law heartbroken without her lost child and husband in another country. Once again, they had another child that did not survive. However, one of the “uncles” from her father’s village had a child with a Peruvian woman. This child was Elena. As her parents were getting older and had no children to take care of, they decided to adopt her. Elena did not find out she was adopted until she was ten and to this day still does not know who her biological mother is which Elena says “is totally okay with me”.
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